8 On the Guadalquiver. 



collected in other wild countries will bear me out in this, 

 the reason for which I think must be that in a country 

 where man is rarely seen the birds never have a chance 

 of becoming accustomed to him, and consequently shun 

 him in the same way that a horse will shy at a strange 

 object by the roadside. There was no cover above a foot 

 high in this part of the marismas, and it may well be 



Fig. 2.— The Stalker from the Bird's Point of View. 



asked how we managed to get near enough the birds to 

 shoot them. 



The wild-fowler in England uses a punt to approach 

 his birds, or he stalks them through some short cover, or 

 he hides himself and waits for the birds to come to 

 him. The patero, the wild- fowler of the marismas of 

 Andalucia, uses a specially trained horse, from behind 

 which he steals unawares upon the flamingo, goose, or 



